NorCal Cycling News – Cycling and Racing in Northern California

Main menu

i’m just gonna float a few notes sent in from the world wild webs … it’ll be long, but you can just wait ’till the next post pushes it down. It’s the stuff that makes some barf, but me breathe.
– – –
Mike,

Don’t get too down man. I know it’s hard sometimes, but every know and then a moment strikes you as beautiful and perfect, and life is good again. I sort of had one of those moments last night at the track.

It’s just such a cool vibe the past couple of Tuesdays. Lot’s of new riders, all happy and eager to learn. Larry, the excellent mentor teaching and spreading the track enthusiasm. It’s all so good. Shelley and I warmed up on our rollers in the parking lot (yes, we’re dorks, and the juniors were still on the track), saying hello to every unloading.

Moved from the parking lot to the track and saw a huge group of juniors finishing their workout and cooling down. Andrew Lanier was there, his usual cheerful self and we made some tentative plans for me to come down some Tuesday to help them with starts and things, very cool.

I got on the track and did some jumps and starts to warm up, so good to spin the legs.

Larry got us going with the first drill, doing some paceline work while Gio and I did Madison exchanges in the group to get people used to going over the exchange, and riders coming into and out of the group.

I was on the rail in turn 2 when that “perfect” moment hit. The sun was setting in a full on blaze of red, purple, pink, and orange clouds. That alone would have done it for me. But then I realized that there was a line of like 25 riders on the other side of the track, learning the basics of a Madison, and I was getting to do some exchanges and pedal my bike in good company. Life is good, that was the moment that solidified it for me. Just that fleeting 5-10 seconds that can do it, swing the pendulum, this time it was swinging up after having been so down last week.

The rest of the evening was fun, lots’ of going hard mixed in with infield joking and laughing and talk of the season to come. Everyone going home tired, and happy.

I know I did.

-brian

– – – –

CAT 3 BARIANI REPORT

The warm up for Bariani Cat 3 race was anything but warm. With day light savings, the sun was only just up, the temp was still well below 50 and the wind was already howling. Guys were pinning numbers on full
jackets and warming up in down vests. The dudes without leg warmers were hard men with hairy legs — the kind of guys who are still true to their mtb roots and scorn smooth skin and showing off muscle
definition.

The start was fairly punctual — masters rolled first and then the 3s. The start to the 3s race was bad ass: rolled down hill for a hundred yards with a tail wind, took a right and BAM the wind came on like a herd of rhinos from the right. Eschelons formed and guys were already crushing pedals to stay on. Another right, and the wind was straight in the teeth. For the first lap, the pace stayed high on this stretch, but people failed to inflict as much damage as they could bc they did not form echelons. Another right and more wind from the side and more high speeds. Guys are falling off the back the whole time. Things got really interesting again after the climb when an echelon formed at the front and a huge number of guys ended their race after less than a full lap.

For the next few laps, the wind continued to carve the weak off the pack. At some point, one of the bright new lights of norcal cycling — Nate English — rolled off the front with one other rider. They built their lead up to 3 minutes after a lap, and as is often the case, people just were not riding like Belgian pros — the echelons were messy and short lived. They stayed away, with English taking 1st in what sounded like a hell of a close finish.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0Ys0J4rvFQ&hl=en]

Last lap was fun. Guys continued to ride hard, and shortly before the last climb a webcore rider rolled off the front to nab the KOM points. At the foot of the hill, a fusion rider went hard and caught up with webcor at the top. They took the right hander into the wind and fought like dogs to stay away. A hundred or so yards from the left hander to the finish, wells fargo dragged a few riders up to fusion and webcore. Fusion jumped again, made the final turn alone, and stayed away until the final hundred meters. wells fargo and another came around for 3 and 4, fusion took 5, and olympic club took 6.

– – –

MFranklin tole’ me to head over to BIKESNOB {{LINK}} … which i don’t EVER do enough of.

East Coast Genius is quite palatable …

when you don’t have to actually meet them.

– – –

From the KINTZ

Better than kitties … kids on bikes?

Three 15 year olds who couldn’t ride 2 easy hours in September, are pushing their heart-rates up near the 190’s Wednesday’s in the dark with empty biketrail suffervals.

What’s going on man? Life is good. Life is what you make of it, so make it good. Smile my friend.

You should have come out to the track last night. Tuesday nights have been awesome with lots of good people. Last night there was so much testosterone out there though, it was ridiculous. Larry is running a great session. One more training night and then the racing starts.

Seriously, you should go mountain biking. I have been going every weekend and loving it. It’s so refreshing. We did a huge ride in Marin last Sunday. Lloyd was dropping my ass on every downhill, although much of the ride was uphill.

This weekend is still in the works, but it looks like Sunday in Santa Cruz with Hutchinson, Rob, Reaney, and Jesse/Andy (who is a newbie to the mtb), and myself. I am working on Rachel, Josie, Melodie, and Niki.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Please note: JavaScript is required to post comments.

Search for:

be a #nccn patron

NCCN is free but takes 100+ hours a month to watch races, research, photograph, podcast, youtube, write & edit. If you love NorCal cycling like we do please consider supporting norcalcyclingnews.com with a recurring monthly 'membership.' Patron status guaranteed. It's cheaper than a tube and less than entering a race!

If you are not a 'subscription' type you can still become a patron with single donation in any amount